


and the winner is......

by smartbuckley



Series: Buddie Tumblr Prompts [23]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Bilingual Evan "Buck" Buckley, Communication, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Game Shows, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, M/M, Making Out, Secret Relationship, Stepdad Evan "Buck" Buckley, Team as Family, showering together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23047369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartbuckley/pseuds/smartbuckley
Summary: When Maddie convinces Buck to join her and the rest of the couples of the 118 on a couples game-show with Eddie as his partner, he does so hesitantly, if only because he knows that by the end of it -- the rest of the team will realize he and Eddie are way more than best friends.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Athena Grant, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Karen Wilson, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Buddie Tumblr Prompts [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528010
Comments: 49
Kudos: 669
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	and the winner is......

**Author's Note:**

> WHOO. When I first started this story, I did not expect it to be as long as it got. I figured it would be 8000 words at most, but it's almost doubt that, and I absolutely love this story. I hope you guys love it too, because it means a lot to me. As always, the story is not beta-edited, takes place seven months post 3x10, so spoilers if you're not caught up, and there's a lot of communication about the lawsuit, bet's, and more in this fic. To the original prompter, and the rest of you -- Hope you guys enjoy.
> 
> Also there's one brief mention of cancer and Alzheimer's. It's not a huge focus, but if it bugs you.... eep, stay safe.
> 
> Original Prompt: _Do you think you could do one that is like a double date but with everyone and with couple game who knows who best. That would just be so cute! Also love your stories_.

“No. Absolutely not,” Buck says to Maddie with wide eyes, looking at her, arms flailing spectacularly while Maddie looks at him with the patented older sister puppy eyes. Letting out a small, frustrated growl, Buck throws his hands up into the air.

“Maddie, I’m not even _seeing_ anyone for this to be possible,” Buck groans, raising his hand and running his fingers through his hair as he moves to fold his arms in front of him, eyeing the poster she’s holding wearily. On it is a circle of couples, an electronic counter in the middle of them with varying scores. Between each couple is a board, blocking their sight from one another, and Buck knows that while hidden, there’s a whiteboard for each half of the couple and markers so they can write down their answers.

It’s a popular television show for the area, still fairly new, and Buck has no idea how Maddie even managed to get not only Chimney and her on the show, but Bobby and Athena and Hen and Karen. There was a fourth couple, that had pulled out at the last minute, since the episode Maddie was appearing on was being filmed the very next day.

Which is where Maddie had come in, a good hour previously, asking Buck if he could appear on the show.

“Well, you see, I was thinking that you could go on the show with Eddie,” Maddie says and Buck finds his eyes widening in surprise once more, gaze moving towards Eddie who only shrugs briefly. While no one in their lives know that they’ve been dating, Buck knows that going on a dating show that asks you how much you know about your partner is --

Well, Buck knows how it’ll seem if they go on it.

“Eddie already said he was okay with it if you were,” Maddie adds and Buck tries his best not to let out a groan at that, because of _course_ Eddie already said that. Briefly, he notices Eddie cringe apologetically, and he shakes his head, letting his boyfriend know that he’s not mad, just frustrated at his sister, first and foremost.

“Maddie, you knew I was going to say yes when you mentioned Eddie, didn’t you?” Buck groans, trying not to let out a laugh when Maddie nods before squealing excitedly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Thank you thank you thank you, you’re the best, Buckaroo,” Maddie adds, breaking away and jumping on the spot while Buck can only roll his eyes and grin at his sister fondly, shrugging quickly when she looks at him before rushing off to find Chimney, at which point, Buck lets out a breath and looks at Eddie with his own Buckley pout.

“How the hell are we going to do this, Eddie?” Buck can’t help asking, starting to feel panicked about what’s going to happen, especially when it comes to the questions he has no doubt will be asked.

“You doubt your knowledge of me?” Eddie asks and Buck can’t help but snort, leaning forward a little, shaking his head.

“Of course not. What I doubt is that we get through this without everyone else realizing we’re dating,” he says and he watches as Eddie opens and closes his mouth before letting out his own snort, rubbing his face with his hands before quickly kissing Buck, pulling away with a grin before they forget where they are.

“Well, if we leave the game show winning and people realizing we’re in a relationship, then I’m okay with that. Are you?” Eddie asks and Buck grins, nodding, moving his hand to squeeze Eddie’s before going to the truck, a luckily timed moment when the siren goes off.

* * *

After their shift, later that night, Buck finds himself in front of Eddie’s kitchen, making a small snack for Christopher while Eddie showers. They’ve talked a little, asking one another about random things they don’t already know, wondering what type of questions will be asked the next day but with Eddie in the shower, Buck tries his best to focus on the moment with Chris, laughing when the little man claps excitedly at the snack.

If someone had told Buck seven months previously that he would be in a happy relationship with his best friend, he would have been shocked - not that he was in a relationship with Eddie, no - he’s known he’s been in love with the man since after the tsunami - but mainly because he never thought he could have happiness with Eddie in general.

He never thought that Eddie would return his feelings. But then one day Eddie had come to him, had told him he was in love with him and had wanted to take that risk with Buck of finding out whether or not they could work together and Buck --

Buck had been the happiest he had ever been on that day. The two of them had made out and snuggled, watching movies with Christopher, and having meals together, and finally settling some details on their first date.

And that was seven months ago, and they haven’t turned back since and Buck -- Buck has never been happier.

“Bucky,” shaking his head clear of his thoughts, Buck turns towards Christopher and kneels down, fingers running through the little man’s hair as he grins.

“What’s up, superman?” He asks, noticing the time, and knowing he’s going to have to get Chris to bed soon.

“Can you read me - me a bedtime story?” Buck’s grin becomes even more wider, always finding himself lucky to be able to read Chris a bedtime story, and with no thought, he picks up Chris and twirls him before heading towards his bedroom, placing him on the bed and grabbing one of the newer books with a flourish and a laugh.

The next half hour or so goes by quickly, Eddie joining the two of them shortly after they start reading, and Buck can’t see himself doing anything else at night for the rest of his life, and it doesn’t scare him, doesn’t frighten him away. Instead, he feels his heart growing, and he looks at Eddie briefly, grinning when he realizes Christopher has fallen asleep against his side.

“Hi,” he says, grinning when Eddie returns the hello.

“Are we kicking butt tomorrow?” Buck asks, because even though he knows he knows Eddie well, he doubts he knows him better than Hen knows Karen, or Bobby knows Athena, or -- even Chimney knows his sister. 

“We sure are. Stop doubting yourself, querido. We’ll do amazing,” Eddie whispers, leaning forward to kiss him before helping him remove himself from Christopher’s hold, the two of them laughing silently when Christopher holds on.

* * *

The next morning has Buck and Eddie working like a machine, like always - their routine so ingrained into Buck’s memory that he has no problems helping wake Christopher up, do push ups with him and then make breakfast while Eddie showers before hopping into the shower himself while Eddie helps Christopher get ready for school, Eddie doing his own set of push ups while Christopher usually watches and giggles.

“Daddy did fif--fifteen push ups, Bucky!” Christopher giggles when he spots him and Buck laughs, arching his eyebrow at Eddie, nudging him as Eddie stands up from the ground.

“Short by five again, Diaz.” Buck can’t help but chuckle, nudging Eddie when he rolls his eyes at him once Christopher has looked away.

“Alright buddy, Buck and I should be home by dinner, but on the off chance we’re not, be good for Abuela, and we’ll see you later tonight.” Eddie says, kneeling down to kiss the top of Christopher’s head when Carla knocks on the door, Buck following suit with a small smile gracing his lips as he gives Chris a hug before watching Chris nod and make his way to Carla, who’s waiting outside of the door to take him to school.

“Bye Daddy. Bye Bucky!” Chris says with a wave, the two men waving goodbye themselves while grinning before they move into overdrive to finish getting ready, promising Maddie the day before that they would arrive at the building hosting the game show by 8:30 in the morning.

“You think we’re going to make it?” Eddie asks and Buck looks at the time, cringing a little before shrugging his shoulders.

“Provided there’s no bad traffic anywhere on the way there…” he begins, chewing the inside of his cheek in thought before blowing out a small breath.

“We should probably leave now, though, if we don’t want to take that chance,” Eddie says and Buck -- Buck nods, knowing the truth in that statement as he grabs something quick to munch on while the two make their way through the roads of LA.

The drive to the studio is slow, a small hit of traffic when they’re ten minutes out, though luckily, there’s no other traffic throughout the drive, and Buck continues watching Eddie drive while they answer more questions about themselves, just in case.

“You’re overthinking this, babe. I know you, you know me. And if the rest of the team _finally_ realize that we’ve been dating, well, I’m not considering that a problem, are you?” Eddie asks, arching one of his eyebrows while Buck grins.

“Nope, not at all. I would love to see their faces when they finally realize it, though,” Buck snorts, shaking his own head while Eddie laughs, interlacing their fingers together as they pull into the studio parking lot.

* * *

Making their way inside the studio, Buck can’t help but blink in surprise - both by the studio lights, the studio audience, and all of the food he sees surrounding what looks like to be the backstage area. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Buck looks towards Eddie, continuing to blink while Eddie squeezes his hand and smiles softly at him.

“I’m here, even if I’m not right next to you, remember that, alright,” Eddie whispers and Buck nods his head, squeezing his hand back before letting go when he spots Maddie, making his way towards her and Chimney.

“Hey, you were cutting it close, Buckaroo” Chimney says, grinning Hen and Karen coming up next to him while Buck shrugs his shoulders.

“Traffic,” was all he responded with, Bobby and Athena also appearing amidst laughter before they said hello to Buck and Eddie. The conversation flows for quite a few minutes before Buck notices an older looking man come up to them with cue cards in his hands.

“Hello, hello, my name is Danny. I’m going to be your host this evening, and I’d like to welcome you to the show.” Danny grins and Buck almost wants to laugh at the exuberance the man has, settling on nodding his head instead with a grin towards Hen.

“Alright, so who do we have here?” He asks, gesturing with his arms, Hen snorting, which causes him to look at her and Hen stuttering for a moment before she regains her composure.

“I’m Hen. This is my wife, Karen.” Hen says, Danny nodding. “And it says here you’ve been married for a few years now?” When Hen nods, Danny grins, before moving on to Athena and Bobby, a simple ‘newlyweds!” escaping from him, before going to Chimney and Maddie, grinning at the two who “ooze with sugary sweetness,” something that causes Buck to wrinkle his nose.

“Ah, yes, you two must be my replacement couple--” Danny begins, and Buck’s about to open his mouth and respond, at least give his name, when --

“Kind of. They’re best friends, but they practically live out of one another’s pockets. He’s my brother, Buck, and that’s his best friend, Eddie.” Maddie says, and Buck nearly huffs out in frustration, looking at his sister as she trifles through her bag before handing Danny some newer cue cards.

“These are some questions you can ask that are specific to them, but all of the other questions you have should fit just fine,” she finishes, and Buck blows out a breath before turning towards Danny.

“She roped me into it by convincing said best friend first,” Buck admits with a snort of laughter, waiting for Danny to laugh loudly, grinning when he does before nudging Eddie, who only chuckles and shakes his head in response.

“Alright, you’re going to be moving towards the podiums and asked questions about how your significant other, or partner, would respond. Each couple who gets it correct, gets a point. For different rounds, with different rules, we’ll explain each rule then, alright?” Everyone nods, before Danny himself claps his hands.

“Alright, you can make your way over to the podiums. We have about ten minutes until the show begins filming, so in the meantime, you’ll find some paper and pens on the podiums. If you could fill out the questions we plan on asking honestly, that would be great. And don’t worry, relax, everything’s going to be okay.” Danny says before turning and leaving everyone staring at one another before shrugging and making their way to the podiums.

Buck knows that if he was doing this with any other group of people, he’d be a nervous wreck but right now, all he can really focus on is ribbing Chimney, who was walking next to him and rolling his eyes.

“You don’t seriously think you can beat us, do you Buckaroo?” Chimney questions and Buck doesn’t stop himself from snorting.

“Hell yeah, I do. Eds and I have this down pat,” he teases right back, nudging Eddie while everyone else snorts.

“Child, you may think you know Eddie, but neither of you know one another like a lover would,” Athena chuckles and Buck opens his mouth before shutting it, looking towards his best friend and arching his eyebrow when Eddie only smirks and chuckles.

“Ready for this, Eddie?” Buck finds himself asking one more time when they finally get to one of the podiums, smack dab in the middle of the room, watching his boyfriend carefully before he nods with a small smirk.

“They’ll probably do easy questions first, and then the questions will get harder and harder as we go on,” Eddie whispers, Buck nodding his head as he looks around the room, eyes widening at the sight of the audience sitting across from him.

“That’s a lot of people finding out things about me that I don’t know,” Buck whispers, Eddie turning toward the crowd before turning back to Buck, his body moving so the sight becomes blocked, with Buck turning to focus on Eddie as he does so.

“Hey, you’ll be fine. You’ll get distracted by winning and kicking everyone’s ass, and then you won’t even remember all of the people watching you. But in case you do, just remember that odds are, they’ve probably already seen you thanks to the firetruck incident from last year, or the carnival incident from before that, yeah? You’re not new to them. Even if they’re new to you,” Eddie whispers, and Buck finds himself taking in a deep breath before exhaling and nodding, a small smile forming on his face as he nudges Eddie, the urge to kiss him high.

“Thanks, Eddie. For always knowing what to say.” Buck finds himself saying, tilting his head carefully while Eddie squeezes his hand before they separate at the sound of the host clearing his throat, stating there’s five minutes left before the show starts, and they’ll need to finish their questionnaires before hand. Buck fills his out quickly but as honestly as he can, grinning at some of the questions before he realizes, the next time he looks up, that Danny is now making his way to the podiums, where his own podium is dead center, between the group of four so there are two sets of groups on each side of him, grabbing the papers before stopping in front of his podium.

“Alright, everyone, these are our contestants for today. Contestants, I’ll be counting down, and then introducing you, and we’ll get to the questions, yeah?” Danny says, the audience cheering while everyone nods, Buck blowing out an anxious breath before grinning.

“Alright, alright, here we go ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to find out who the winner will be on ‘And the Winner Is…” tonight?” Danny begins all while lights flash and music begins to play. It takes Buck out of the scene for a moment, the man staring in awe around the building before he notices Hen and grins towards her, watching as Hen laughs.

“Starting from the left, we have our oldest couple, though still somewhat newlyweds, Bobby and Athena.” Buck watches as Bobby waves and Athena crosses her arms with a grin, making Buck snort before he realizes the spotlight has moved on.

“Then there’s long time couple Maddie and Chimney - Chimney is, of course, a nickname.” Danny adds, laughter ringing throughout the room as Chimney turns red, the spotlight moving once more to where Buck and Eddie are.

“We have best friends, Buck and Eddie, and ladies, maybe by the end of the night you’ll be able to bring one home with you,” Danny crows, the women in the audience cheering loudly while Buck waves but cringes towards Eddie.

“Lastly, long time married, Hen and her wife, Karen.” Danny finishes, Hen and Karen waving and grinning, getting their own cheers, causing Buck to grin in response at the crowd before he turns back to Danny.

“Alright, most of you should know the game by now, but if you don’t, here are the rules. We ask a question, each partner answers it. For this first round, you verbally answer with what you think your partner said, and write your own answer down on the board. Everyone got it? Get it, good, let’s goooo,” Danny says, tongue rolling as more music plays and Buck grins at Eddie.

“Alright, let’s go with the first question --- when is your birthday!” Buck couldn’t help but snort at that question, knowing he could answer that for everyone in the room, partner or not. And of course, everyone gets that answer correct, alongside where they were born, when they moved to Los Angeles, if they had any immediate family in the area, alongside their names (which was rather easy for Buck and Maddie, considering) and their height.

“Alright, the first round is done. We’ll be back in five, where we continue to round two, and hopefully, not everyone stays tied up,” Danny says with a grin before the lights dim down and Buck relaxes, realizing almost immediately that not only was he sweating buckets, but he was also finding himself hot under all of the bright lights.

“That was way too easy,” Bobby chuckles and Buck finds himself turning towards the captain with a grin.

“Agreed. Hopefully it picks up soon, or I’m not going to be able to wipe the ground with you guys,” he chuckles, everyone laughing while rolling their eyes in response. The next five minutes go by too quickly for Buck, a bottle of water in his hands as he tries to cool down before Danny is back on the scene, lights shining bright and music playing once more.

“Alright, alright, here we are at round two. Unlike last round, each answer is worth a whopping five points and in order to score, you must write down what you think your partner answered. We’ll ask the question, each person will write down what they think their partner answered, and then when we reveal the answers, we’ll explain why. Then we’ll go ahead and say whether or not you were correct or incorrect, and if you weren’t, the actual answer.” Danny grins, everyone nodding as the instructions seem simple enough, though slightly tedious. Briefly, Buck sees Maddie smirking at him and he rolls his eyes at his sister, sticking his tongue out at her before grabbing his white board, getting into position to kick her ass.

“Alright, the first question of round two is this - if you weren’t in the career path you’re in now, what would you want to do instead?” Buck frowns briefly, knowing that while most people would say Eddie would want to be in the Army, that wasn’t always the case. Feeling confident in his answer, he wrote it down with a small grin, winking at Eddie before turning to Bobby and Athena, wondering what their answers would be.

“Alright, starting from Bobby and going onward -- Bobby, what would Athena chose to be if not a police officer?” Curious about the answer, Buck turned towards Bobby, waiting, almost like everyone else was in the room.

When Bobby finally turns his white board to reveal ‘private investigator’ it’s like everyone in the room takes a breath as they turn towards Athena, who has one of the widest grins on her face that Buck has ever seen, causing him to laugh after a moment. “She wouldn’t be able to handle losing a case when it’s clear she should be winning,” he chuckles.

“He’s right,” Athena says before Danny, before her smile dims just a little, “I thought about putting lawyer on there but I don’t believe I would be able to handle losing any cases when it is clear the winner should be losing,” she adds with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“And what do you think Bobby would be?” Danny asks, and Athena reveals her board to say Chef, which has almost everyone nodding in agreement, knowing how well the man cooks and how much he loves to cook. “He loves cooking. Says it calms him down.”

When Bobby reveals that to be answered, the audience claps, the scorecard below Bobby and Athena, labelled ‘Bathena’ going from five to fifteen, which has Buck chuckling, partially due to the reminder of the name, and partially because of the points they earned.

“Next we have Maddie and Chimney, also known as _Madney_. Who wants to go first? Chimney? Chimney it is, then!” Danny shouts, and Buck notices Eddie cringe backward.

“You okay?” He whispers, moving forward and placing his hand on Eddie’s lower back and rubbing him gently, watching Eddie carefully while he nods and smiles. “Yeah, just...slowly starting to get a headache from all of the noise,” Buck nods, knowing how Eddie feels and just lightly pushes pressure on his boyfriend’s back, blinking when he hears Chimney’s voice, realizing the man had flipped his board, and it said _therapist_.

“She would want to be a therapist that specializes in abuse cases, because of her own experiences,” Chimney says, and Buck can’t help but watch his sister carefully in case the mention of her own experiences gets her stuck in a memory, but not seeing any signs of it, he blows out a breath when she confirms that statement to be true before flipping her own board.

Buck has to blink at the words, _bar owner_ written down on the whiteboard, and briefly, he wonders why before Maddie explaining it’s because of Chimney’s time as a bartender before he became a firefighter, and how he’s always enjoyed it. Buck can’t help but be relatively impressed but before he knows it, it’s Eddie’s turn, and he can’t help but wonder if Eddie knows what he would choose to do if not being a firefighter.

He can’t help but blink in surprise though when Eddie flips his white board around and Buck see’s _grades 1-3 teacher_ instead of whatever it is other people would have jokingly guessed. 

“He enjoys working with young children and while he enjoys the thrill of saving people with firefighting, he enjoys _helping_ them more so than anything,” Eddie says and Buck can’t help but grin because yeah, that’s exactly right. 

“And you got that right, since Buck here hasn’t stopped grinning,” Danny responds, Buck blinking in surprise before turning bright red when everyone laughs at him.

“And what would Eddie be outside of a firefighter?” With a deep breath, Buck flips his board over, displaying the career of _physical therapist_ on it. 

“While most people would expect it to say Army, I know you did that out of a sense of duty. With physical therapy, you can still help people, especially veterans,” Buck responds, grinning when Eddie confirms the answer to correct.

With some cheers being heard, Danny asks Hen and Karen - Hen suggesting Karen would be a kindergarten teacher, which was correct, and Karen suggesting Hen would be a nurse, which was incorrect, surprisingly - Hen stating she would actually try to work in a field related to helping children get out of bad situations.

“Alright, it looks like everyone is tied save for Hen and Karen, who are five points behind. Let’s go with the next set of questions, which should be rather easy for everyone involved,” Danny grins, before turning towards the audience, stating they’ll be back after the break. When the lights turn down, Danny turns towards them and says the break will be between seven and ten minutes, and they can interact with one another, which Buck finds himself thankful for, when he turns towards Chimney with a smirk.

“Bar owner?” He asks, teasing.

“ _Teacher_?” Chimney responds back, though there’s more shock in the tone of his voice that has Buck’s insecurities rising, Eddie squeezing his hand under the podium briefly.

“I like helping, and I like kids,” Buck shrugs in response after a few minutes, smiling when Hen and Karen say they can understand that, while Maddie comes up to him and hugs him briefly, whispering a quick and quiet thank you, confusing Buck.

“I saw you looking at me during my answer, worried. And while I’m _fine_ , I’m still thankful,” Maddie responds, and just as Buck is about to open his mouth and respond back, Danny is back and telling them time’s coming to an end, which has Buck shaking his head, wondering where the time flew.

“And we are back, and asking questions of importance, like the first question of our return - your partner’s favorite color! I told you, it was going to be an easy one,” Danny chuckles while everyone lets out a small breath of relief, like they were worried it was just going to get harder and harder -- though Buck had no doubt that that would end up happening eventually, regardless. 

All of them get the answers correctly, though Maddie jokingly calls out maroon for Buck, frowning when she learns she’s wrong, before shrugging her shoulders at Buck’s answer of green-blue.

The next question is everyone’s favorite place to go to relax, which everyone guesses correctly, though Maddie is looking at Buck in confusion when Eddie guesses his spot (the roof of the fire station) correctly.

There’s then where they went to high school, what their favorite class was, and who their favorite teacher was, which, surprisingly, everyone also got correct.

“Alright, a bit of a tough one now - what are your parents names?” Danny asks, and Buck sees Chimney look towards Eddie and Buck in confusion, knowing the answer wouldn’t be fair for Eddie, since he would get his answer confirmed by Maddie, which has Buck snorting briefly when he realizes it when Maddie giggles lightly when Chimney brings it up when he answers the question and gets point for it being correct.

“Alright, Eddie, what are Buck’s parent’s names?” Danny chuckles, and the rest of the audience chuckles with him, until it suddenly stops when Eddie reveals his board to show the same name for the mother, but a different name completely for the father.

“While Maddie and Buck share the same Mom, they don’t share the same Dad.” Eddie responds with a grin while Buck chuckles, nodding his head.

“He’s right. My Mom and Maddie’s Dad divorced, and she met my Dad.” Buck answers, with a small frown before flipping over his board, correctly displaying Eddie’s parents name, ignoring the look Chimney gives his sister, confusion and hurt clear on his face.

“Well, that’s an interesting piece of information,” Danny chuckles, and Buck looks over at his form quickly, snorting when he sees the other man looking between his sister and Chimney awkwardly before looking towards Hen and Karen with a too wide grin on his face. Hen and Karen answer correctly, and then it’s the next set of questions, still worth five points. 

“Alright, here we go, are you ready? The next question is what does your partner do when they can’t sleep?” Danny questions and Buck writes his answer down immediately, a small grin on his face as he looks towards Eddie with a smirk, trying his best to ignore the way he still has butterflies in his stomach, even after all of the months the two have been dating.

When the time is up, Buck watches as Bobby and Athena get their answers correct, Maddie gets hers correct but Chimney doesn’t, and Hen and Karen get theirs correct, before Danny turns towards them with a grin.

“And last but not least, the best friends,” Danny says, his tone slightly condescending in a teasing way that has Buck grinning, especially when Eddie turns his answer around.

“Sit outside, preferably on a roof and watch the sun rise?” Danny asks and Buck watches Eddie with a grin on his face, not noticing Bobby and Maddie jolt in surprise, since they had known that already.

“Indeed. He likes watching the sunrise, especially if he’s awake early enough to see the blues and not the oranges,” Eddie responds, turning towards Buck with a small smile that has Buck ducking so he can hide the way his cheeks stain red.

“He’s right. I enjoy watching the blue hour before the sun rises. I find something about it very tranquil,” Buck responds, soft voice barely heard.

“How interesting. Alright, Buck, what does Eddie like to do when he can’t sleep?” Danny asks and Buck turns back towards his boyfriend with a small smile before turning his board around, Danny humming in soft confusion.

“He cuddles his son, and if he can’t do that, me. And if not that, pillows.” Danny says while Eddie groans and Buck smirks.

“I usually get to cuddle my son, because everything is put into perspective when I have him in my arms. But sometimes, he’s at a sleepover, or I’m at work, at which point I ask Buck,” Eddie responds with a shrug while the room remains quiet before Danny chuckles and the sound gets turned back on, almost. Looking around, Buck briefly smiles at his sister, who is looking at him inquisitively before he looks away, a smirk on his face. The question moves to Hen and Karen, who, no surprise, are both correct with their answers.

“Alright, we’re going to take another small break before we continue with round three. We’ll be back in a few,” Danny says, the lights dimming once more and Buck feels himself relaxing, stepping close to Eddie and wrapping his arms loosely around the other man’s waist as Eddie lets out a small breath and places his head on Buck’s clavicle. 

“Is your headache still raging?” Buck asks, voice soft, frowning and running his fingers through Eddie’s hair when he feels Eddie nod a little. Looking around briefly, he spots Maddie talking to Chimney and taps Eddie’s neck.

“I’ll be right back, alright?” Buck asks, kissing the top of Eddie’s head before moving out from behind the podium and heading towards his sister because he knows, if there’s one thing he could always count on when it came to Maddie, it was that she was always prepared in case of headaches and the like. When he finally makes his way to her, she stops her conversation with Chimney, which Buck single-handedly determines not to focus on, grinning at her instead.

“Any chance you have ibuprofen, Tylenol or Motrin?” He questions, leaning against the podium while she watches him carefully before humming, grabbing her purse from the ground and placing it next to him. He watches her for a few minutes, talking to Chim sporadically before she exclaims with a simple ‘ha ha!”, holding up the ibuprofen. Grinning down at his older sister, he wraps his arms around her quickly before taking hold of the pills and heading back to Eddie, placing his free hand on Eddie’s neck and squeezing lightly, handing him the pills with a small smile, grabbing his water bottle and letting Eddie sip from it as he smiles back, neither of them noticing Hen and Karen looking at the duo with surprised but knowing eyes.

“Danny’s on his way back,” Buck whispers after a few moments when he notices the energetic man making his way down the stairs, Eddie nodding his head and taking a deep breath before smiling at Buck once more, squeezing his hand in thanks, turning towards the front of the podium slowly.

“Thank you,” he hears Eddie whisper quickly and Buck turns around to flash him his patented grin before watching Danny, who has entered the center of the stage.

“Alright, we are back, and starting round three, which is going to be worth seven points for each correct answer,” Danny says, and Buck takes a deep breath, listening carefully, “And we’re getting into the more intimate questions here, so get ready,” Danny grins and Buck releases his breath, looking towards Eddie with a small smile, having a feeling that if anyone doesn’t realize by now that the two of them are in a relationship, they will after these questions.

“Are you ready?” Eddie questions and Buck can only nod, watching Danny carefully.

“Alright, the first question, an easy one for the category - what side of the bed does your partner _like_ to sleep on?” The room is silent as everyone writes down their answers, and eventually, Buck turns to watch what everyone else is doing, waiting.

“Alright, let’s start with Hen and Karen, this time,” Danny says, moving towards the duo as Buck lets out a small breath.

“Alright, Karen - what did you answer with?” Danny asks, and Buck turns so that he sees Hen’s answer, a _right side_ as the answer, which Hen nods with. When she reveals her own answer, to also be right, Karen lets out a laugh, before nodding.

“We fought about it in the early stages of our relationship, before I was fine with sleeping on the left,” Karen chuckles, while fourteen points gets added to their total and Danny moves towards Buck and Eddie.

“Alright, let’s see if two best friends know this about one another,” Danny grins and Buck tries his best not to snort when he flips his board to display _center_ . “He likes to spread out,” Buck shrugs, Eddie laughing as he nods his head before he turns around his own board, grinning when Buck sees _left_ displayed.

“He likes the left but he’ll move to the center also, sometimes,” Eddie chuckles and Buck can only nod, their points rising as he notices Maddie looking at him in confusion as Danny moves towards her and Chimney. Unfortunately, neither Maddie or Chimney get their answers right, which has Buck frowning because he figured that surely they would know, while Bobby answers his incorrectly and Athena gets hers correct.

“Alright, well, this is _interesting_.” Danny grins, doing a small tap dance that has everyone laughing in confusion before he chuckles and continues, “Next question is how does your partner like their eggs?” Danny asks, turning towards Bobby with a creepy grin while he waits. Buck can hear the jeopardy song in the back of his head and he grins while turning towards Eddie, who smiles back at him, no doubt understanding what’s going through his head, just like Eddie always does.

After a few minutes, Bobby turns his board, showing scrambled, which Athena agrees with before turning her board, which shows sunny side up, earning the two fourteen points, alongside Maddie and Chimney. When Danny finally turned towards Buck and Eddie, both men turned towards him and smiled.

“Alright, Buck, what do you have for Eddie?” Danny asks, his own grin on his face as Buck turns his answer around, nudging Eddie when the words _poached_ are displayed, Eddie snorting softly.

“Eddie? Is Buck correct about your favorite type of eggs?” Danny asks and Buck turns towards him, laughing when Eddie teasingly says no before nodding.

“He’s right. I love poached eggs,” Eddie responds, grinning before turning over his board to show _scrambled_. 

“And Buck, are your favorite type of eggs scrambled?” Danny asks and Buck confirms the answer, giving the two of them another seven points before Danny moves to Hen and Karen, who also earn another fourteen points.

“Alrighty, the next question - how does your partner like their coffee?” Danny asks, and the room becomes silent once more as everyone writes their answers down, Buck biting his lip because he knows he’s shown Eddie his favorite coffee is one thing when it’s completely different.

“Alright, Hen and Karen, let’s see what you have!” Danny exclaims, and Buck watches as both of the women get their answers correct. When Danny begins walking towards Buck and Eddie, Buck looks towards Eddie with a small smile, showing his board as _black_ , which has Eddie snorting.

“I do indeed like my coffee black,” Eddie says with a small smirk, turning his board around where Buck has to blink in surprise over Eddie’s answer.

“He likes it very sweet. Like, too sweet to handle. However, he always drinks black in front of me because he was trying to impress me the first time we had coffee together,” Eddie answers, winking towards a tomato-red Buck, who decides to let out a groan and hide his face in his arms. Buck can hear everyone in the studio laughing, and Eddie’s hand rubbing his back before he finally stands up and concedes.

“He’s right. I like it sweet,” he admits, shaking his head before looking at his boyfriend with a soft grin, as the studio continues to laugh and Danny makes his way over to Maddie and Chimney, where Chimney gets the answer wrong and Maddie gets it right, Maddie gaining another frown on her face over Chimney’s answer, not surprising Buck when he notices her exhibiting some of her nervous habits. Bobby and Athena both get the answers correct, which doesn’t surprise Buck one bit.

“Alright, our next question is probably a little bit of a tough one now, so I’ll give you a couple of minutes to think about it. What was the other’s first date?” Danny says and Buck has to blink because he -- He doesn’t know if he knows the answer to this question. He thinks for a few minutes, missing Bobby and Athena’s answer (Bobby’s answer correct, Athena’s incorrect), Maddie and Chimney’s answer, surprisingly enough, both correct, and then it’s their turn and Buck still hasn’t written anything down, too busy biting the inside of his cheek. Shaking his head, Buck writes something down quickly, ignoring the way he’s feeling like he’s wrong.

Eddie reveals his answer to be the first date he had with Abby and Buck lets out a little laugh, shaking his head.

“No, my first date was in high school.” Buck admits with a shrug, though Eddie only shrugs in response, a smile forming on his face when Buck reveals his board, eyes widening when Eddie nods.

“I did indeed take my first date out to star gaze,” Eddie admits, and Buck opens and closes his mouth for a few minutes before snorting.

“I totally guessed on that one,” he chuckles, everyone else laughing while Danny shakes his head and walks towards Hen and Karen for their answers, which only Karen got right.

“Alright, we’re at the last question for the round, so let’s get ready for it now. Are you ready” Danny asks, turning towards the crowd who cheers, causing the one-eighteen to laugh, some nervously. 

“Alright, what does your partner do after a tough shift at work” Danny asks and everyone begins writing, Buck feeling confident with his answer, since it’s something very obvious to him and no doubt, Eddie. When Danny turns towards Hen and Karen, they both answer relaxing with their kids for one another, and both get it right, which has Buck chuckling a little while Danny walks towards them.

“Alright, Buck, what does Eddie do when he’s had a tough shift?” Danny asks and Buck smiles, flipping his board over to show _watching movies with his kid_ , which is right, and has Eddie laughing.

“Alright, Eddie, looks like Buck was right. Now, what does Buck do when he’s had a tough shift?” Eddie grins, flipping his board over to show _watching movies with my kid_. Everyone laughs, Buck included, though he also nods.

“Well, looks like these two best friends know one another quite well,” Danny chuckles, going over to Maddie and Chimney, who get it right, and then Bobby and Athena, who also get it right.

“Alright, this round is over, so we’re going to take another break, though this one might be a little longer - I’m sure, after all, you’re _starving_ , right? So there’s going to be people walking up and down the aisles if you want to buy food, and if you want to leave, you can, but make sure to be back within 45 minutes, folks!” Danny shouts, numerous people standing up while Buck slumps and Eddie rubs his back once more, stepping forward with a small frown on his face.

“Are you alright?” Eddie asks, voice quiet, Buck looking at him with a small smile, closing his eyes briefly and breathing in, stretching his arms backwards before humming. 

“Yeah. I just need to sit down,” he says, blowing out a small breath, “My leg’s beginning to bother me, and I’m just now realizing it,” he admits and he tries to ignore the frown on his boyfriends face, nudging him once more.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to sit, and then you can worry about me, yeah?” Buck says and Eddie nods, tapping his lower back before they both move to a table set close to the food.

“What do you want for lunch?” Eddie asks and Buck shakes his head.

“Anything you think I’ll like,” Buck responds, stifling a yawn while Eddie nods. He can feel someone sitting next to him, and looking over, he arches his eyebrow at Hen, smiling.

“So uh, how long have you two actually been dating?” Hen asks and Buck lets out a chuckle, not completely surprised that she’s the first one to not only notice something, but come to him and ask him about it.

Staying quiet for a few minutes, Buck watches Eddie pick through the food with two plates on his arm before he turns towards Hen and smiles.

“Seven months,” he says, and he lets out a small laugh when Hen opens and closes her mouth, clearly surprised.

“I did not think it was that long,” she admits, blowing out a small huff of breath while Buck continues to smile.

“After everything that had happened -- we really sat down and talked, and --” Buck shrugs, not finishing his response though he knows Hen gets what he’s trying to say. “He had come to me first, you know. Said he was in love with me, and wanted to see if the risk was worth it, especially after talking to Frank. I had been so surprised, because I had realized my feelings for him after the tsunami and _never_ thought he would return them,” Buck admits, shifting a little while Hen grabs onto his hands and squeezes, understanding in more ways than Buck realizes.

“Every day I get to spend with him, or wake up next to him, I find myself eternally grateful, Hen,” Buck whispers, grinning when Eddie finally arrives in front of him with a plate of food. Buck grabs the food happily, his grin becoming bigger when he sees some of his favorite finger foods on the plate.

“Thanks babe,” Buck whispers, laughing when Eddie lets out a small snort and sits down next to him. 

“So Hen definitely guessed huh,” Eddie says while grinning towards the woman next to Buck, who grins back.

“Y’all guessed I would guess, huh?” Hen asks and Buck nods, grinning once more.

“You’re the one in our group other than Bobby who pays close attention to everyone and everything, and Bobby is further away from us than you, so you probably spotted all of the small things between us,” Buck responds, Hen nodding in understanding before turning towards Eddie, who bites on a carrot briefly and then smiles.

“Think you can keep it quiet for a little while longer?” Eddie asks after he swallows down his food, letting Buck eat his finger foods - a sandwich, currently - while rubbing his knee lightly in hopes that it helps Buck’s leg pain calm down.

“Of course. Can I just say though? You two are cute together. And I’m glad you’re happy,” Hen says, voice soft, while squeezing Buck’s arm before standing up and walking towards the table of food herself. Buck and Eddie continue to eat in silence, nudging one another playfully for a few minutes while chuckling, both relaxing completely as the time passes.

“What do you think some of the other questions are going to be?” Eddie asks after a couple of minutes of silence and Buck finds himself thinking, both about the past questions and their overall theme, and the possibility of the future questions.

“Maybe about how we react to certain things in our lives?” Buck answers while Eddie hums softly, but before he can say anything else, Danny is quickly making his way through the stands to them, grinning. Buck almost wants to let a sigh of frustration, not sure how this man has so much energy all of the damn time.

“I’m sure we’re almost done,” Eddie whispers and Buck smiles gratefully at his boyfriend before turning towards the host.

“Alright, if we can get you to your podiums within five minutes, that would be great. After round four, we have at least one more round. Are you guys ready?” Danny asks, chuckling when everyone nods a little tiredly, before making his way to the main area of the stage, clapping his hands as more and more members of the audience enter the seating area once more.

“Let’s do this,” Buck hears Maddie say, and he turns towards her with a teasing grin.

“Let’s hope you guys can come back from being in last,” Buck teases, chuckling when Maddie sticks her tongue out at him and Chimney huffs a laughter. He hadn’t seen them while eating, though he knows they had eaten, since Eddie mentioned seeing them, so he wonders where they went and if they talked.

When he’s finally at their podium, he lets out a small breath, leaning against the podium and playing with the dry erase marker, hoping it distracts him from the pain that’s quickly returning. He has to blink in surprise though when Eddie calls Danny down, asking if they could get a chair, explaining about Buck’s injury, which has Danny nodding in understanding before grabbing a stool. Turning to Eddie, Buck grins at his boyfriend, squeezing Eddie’s hand quickly as the others make their way to their own podiums, some frowning when they realize Buck is actually sitting instead of standing, though Buck does his best to ignore it.

When the music and lights make their appearance, Buck watches Eddie carefully, glad to see him not flinching, his headache clearly gone. With Danny’s reappearance, the clapping from the audience stops, and Buck turns towards the other man, wondering what’s going to be said.

“Welcome back to _And the Winner Is_. If you’re just tuning in, we here have couples try to answer questions about their significant others for points. We’re just about to start the fourth round and so far, best friends Buck and Eddie are in the lead with 109 points, while married Hen and Karen follow with 105, and then Bobby and Athena with 102. In last place are boyfriend and girlfriend Chimney and Maddie with 82 points. In this round, each contestant will receive five points for a correct answer, with a total of 10 being earned if both are correct. Are we ready for the fourth round?” Danny asks, raising his voice a little at the end of his sentence while the audience cheers.

“Alright, the first question is a simple one - how many languages does your partner speak, and what are they?” Danny asks. There’s silence for a couple of minutes before Danny walks towards Bobby and Athena, who guess their answers correctly with one language - English, alongside Maddie and Chimney, both with two languages - English and Korean for Chimney, and polish for Maddie. When it comes to Buck and Eddie’s turn, both grin towards one another, knowing that the rest of their team will be surprised.

“Alright Eddie, let’s see your answers for Buck,” Danny says, Eddie flipping his board to show 4 - English, Polish, Spanish and Italian. He can see the moment everyone takes in the answer, a small grin on his face while the entire team turns towards him in surprise.

“Well Buck, it looks like _everyone_ you know is surprised. Want to explain?” Danny chuckles, while Buck grins.

“Spanish because I spent time in South America, Polish because of my mother’s family and Italian because of a couple I spent time with,” Buck answers, winking towards the crowd which has everyone laughing. He knows everyone is going to assume he spent time with the Italian couple sexually, but in reality, it was the complete opposite, and he also knows Eddie knows the truth, and he has no problem with that. After the crowd has finally settled down, Buck flips his own card around to show 3 - English, Spanish and Swedish, which Eddie confirms with a grin. Next up are Hen and Karen, who both only speak one language, and both get the answer correct. 

The next question is who is the early bird, which everyone earns ten points for getting correct, and then what size underwear does the other wear, which they all get right again, though Bobby turns towards Buck with a look that scrutinizes when Eddie and he get the answer correct. Their third question is what their favorite meal is, which surprisingly - a lot of them get wrong, the only ones getting it right being Maddie, Chimney, Bobby and Athena. Their next question is what brand of shampoo the other partner likes, and surprisingly, Athena gets her answer wrong, and Eddie gets his answer wrong, whereas Maddie, Chimney, Hen and Karen are all right.

“Alright, the last question of the round is this - what was the last thing your partner purchased?” Danny asks, and the wait is on as a few people finish writing before he goes to Hen and Karen with a grin, which turns into something more sincere when Hen gets her answer right but Karen gets hers wrong. When he ends up at Buck and Eddie, Buck almost wants to snort at the arched eyebrow Danny shows.

“Alright, let’s see how well these best friends know one another, since they might be in the lead after this,” Danny grins, and Buck chuckles, flipping his board so that it shows _shampoo_ and _conditioner_ , earning him five points when Eddie nods his head.

“And Eddie -- what was the last thing Buck bought?” Danny asks, tilting his head when Eddie turns his board around to show _children’s medicine_.

“His kid was sick, and I _hate_ seeing his kid sick, so I watched him while Eddie had to work, and bought him some more medicine,” Buck explains when Danny turns towards him, laughing after the explanation before turning to the crowd with an arched eyebrow.

“Do you guys think maybe these two aren’t _just_ best friends?” He asks, the audience hollering as Buck laughs and Eddie turns red, both avoiding the eyes of the others. When it’s Maddie and Chimney’s turn, both answer correctly, and when it’s Bobby and Athena’s, Bobby is the only one to answer correctly, making Bobby and Athena tied with Chimney and his sister, which has Buck chuckling lightly as they go to a small break. 

It’s only a few minutes later that Danny returns, dancing along with the music playing while the audience laughs at his moves, and Buck himself lets out a small chuckle, nudging Eddie who only rolls his eyes softly.

“Alright, alright, this is the final round, with each correct answer worth ten points, meaning each couple could possibly be earning twenty points, if they’re both correct. The questions are serious, so we’ll give you a few minutes to answer each one,” Danny says, waiting for the contestants to nod in understanding before turning towards the audience.

“Are all of you ready?” He shouts, laughing when the audience cheers. “Alright, here we go. The first question for you guys is as follows: What is your partner’s biggest regret?” Buck finds his eyes widening before he takes a deep breath, smiling softly when Eddie squeezes his hip. They both know what Buck’s biggest regret is, and even though they’re past it, they also both know that sometimes, Buck gets himself stuck in his head with it, insecurities running wild on him and in a moment like this, it’s very possible it could change Buck’s mood for the rest of the game. And while Buck hopes that doesn’t happen, he knows it’s a chance he’s going to have to take, especially as he writes down the answer he thinks Eddie has in regards to regrets.

“Alright, Bobby, Athena. Let’s see your answers,” Danny says and Buck wants to marvel at how the man has become as serious as possible during this moment. When Bobby turns his board to reveal Athena’s regret, everyone on the team remains silent, knowing it’s not easy for Athena to talk about her ex-fiance, and even as Bobby explains, the air surrounding everyone becomes solemn, the audience understanding how serious this moment is. When Danny nods, and tells Athena he’s sorry for her loss, Buck can see Athena take a deep breath before responding with a simple nod herself, displaying her own answer which has the team staying solemn. It’s almost like a repeat when Athena explains what her answer means, and how it led to the loss of Bobby’s first family, and Danny says the same thing to Bobby, clapping his shoulder briefly before moving onto Maddie and Chimney.

Buck can’t help but cringe back, wanting to hide in Eddie’s shoulders, but he knows he can’t, so he settles for the way Eddie crowds into him while all eyes are on his sister and close friend. 

“Alright, Chimney, what’s Maddie’s biggest regret?” Danny asks, tilting his head momentarily when Chim displays his board to show _not leaving sooner_. Buck can’t help but suck back a breath, causing Danny to look at him briefly before he turns towards Maddie, who has tears in her eyes that she tries her hardest to wipe away and smile through.

“He’s right.” She whispers, shaking his head when Danny nods. “And what’s Chimney’s biggest regret?” He asks, nodding when Maddie reveals her board, and it's a hint towards Chim’s best friend that he lost. Danny nods, smiling softly before making his way towards Buck and Eddie, and Buck knows he’s tensing up and that it’s obvious, but there’s also nothing that can be done about it, which he hates.

“Alright, Eddie. What’s Buck’s biggest regret?” Danny asks, his voice somber and Buck has to blow out a breath when he sees Eddie’s answer, eyes widening because -- _yeah_ , he thinks. That makes sense.

 _Losing my son_ _in the tsunami_ is what’s written on the page, and Buck has to try and suck back a breath, because he knows that’s true. He also knows that some of the others are opening and closing their mouths, surprised, no doubt thinking Buck’s biggest regret was about the lawsuit, but Buck -- Buck could never regret that, which is something he and Eddie have talked circles around during the middle of the nights when they couldn’t sleep, the first few weeks after everything had happened. Buck can also tell the audience is surprised, though he doesn’t know --

“I uh - yeah. That’s right. We were on the pier when the tsunami happened and I _had_ Chris but -- I lost him, after,” Buck whispers, closing his eyes briefly when Eddie moves to hug him, his arms around his shoulders loosely, whispering words to Buck that they both know help.

“And Eddie’s regret?” Danny asks. Buck inhales once more before flipping his own board, knowing he wrote two answers. _Street fighting_ _and pushing people away_ were his answers and Buck looks towards Eddie carefully, feeling his body relax when his boyfriend nods before smiling softly at him.

“He’s also right. I took my anger out through street fighting after the tsunami and well, I liked to push people away a lot, when we’re building relationships,” Eddie admits and Buck just wants to hug him but instead, squeezes his wrist while Danny nods and heads towards Hen and Karen. No one is surprised when Karen shows Hen’s regret to be the recent ambulance accident she had, Karen hugging her as Hen explains, and when Hen explains Karen’s regret, both women end up hugging one another, the mood in the room staying somber as Danny blows out a breath, nodding.

“Our last very serious question, I promise. What is your partner scared of?” Danny asks and Buck closes his eyes, head thumping onto his arms and the podium as he shakes the dry erase marker in between his fingers, trying to think of what Eddie fears while ignoring his own fears. After a few minutes, Buck writes something down quickly, looking towards Eddie and biting his lip, blowing out a huff of air when Eddie smiles at him.

“Okay, Karen. What’s Hen afraid of?” Danny asks after a few minutes, smile softly when he sees _losing our kids_ as the answer, Hen nodding, flipping her own board to show the same thing, earning them another twenty points.

“Buck, Eddie, are you two ready?” Danny asks and Buck can’t help the scoff and chuckle that breaks free from him. ‘As ready as we possibly can be,” he responds, shrugging his shoulders before flipping his board with a very similar, _losing his son_ as the answer. Turning towards Eddie, he’s not surprised to see his boyfriend frowning, rubbing his face while nodding because Buck knows Eddie well, knows that losing Christopher in _any_ way would kill Eddie, and Buck -- Buck plans on never letting that happen again.

“He’s right,” Eddie replies, voice soft, Danny nodding before turning towards Eddie completely. “And what’s Buck’s biggest fear?” He asks, and Buck, while still completely tense, looks at his boyfriend and feels himself relaxing a little bit as Eddie looks at him, saying everything was going to be alright with his eyes while he flips his board, Buck’s heart pounding in his chest as he briefly looks at the words.

 _Making a mistake big enough that he ends up alone_ is written down and Buck feels himself letting out a breath, eyes snapping to Eddie’s, who smiles softly at him, and Buck realizes just how much Eddie knows about him without Buck realizing it, a small smile forming on his face at the thought before he turns towards Danny.

“He’s definitely right,” Buck says, voice soft while Danny nods and moves towards the others. Buck doesn’t pay attention to any of the others’ answers though, too lost in his thoughts, but he does briefly notice the tie has remained the same between the last group of twos, before Eddie interlaces their fingers together and squeezes.

“I’m proud of you, babe,” Eddie whispers and Buck turns towards him with another smile, nudging Eddie before turning towards Eddie when his voice interrupts his thoughts.

“Alright, the third and _final_ question - How do you know when your partner is completely comfortable and in what settings are they usually the most comfortable within?” Danny questions and Buck feels his entire body relax, because he knows this question is a simple one, and that there’s no way in hell it could bring up any bad memories for him. Writing down his answer for Eddie, Buck finds himself grinning at his boyfriend, not surprised that Eddie is already grinning at him.

Even though his cheeks are red, Buck blows out a huff of breath before finishing his answer on the board, tongue peeking out of his mouth, which only has Eddie laughing, Buck looking at him in slight confusion before shrugging it off and putting the cap back on the marker, watching as Danny heads towards Bobby and Athena, who both gain twenty points for their correct answer, alongside Maddie and Chimney until suddenly, he’s in front of Eddie and Buck, a grin on his face.

“Alright, Eddie. How do you know when Buck is completely comfortable, and where is he the most comfortable?” Danny reiterates and Buck grins when Eddie flips his board, displaying the correct answer.

 _He’s comfortable when he’s in track pants, a cotton shirt, with my son in his arms on my couch, watching some sort of movie_ is displayed, and Buck can’t stop the grin forming on his face, part of him wanting to kiss his boyfriend but just stopping himself.

“Well, Buck, I’m going to assume by your grin that that answer is correct, so let’s see where Eddie’s most comfortable,” Danny says, and while Buck lets out a laugh, he briefly notices Maddie looking at him with confusion, and finds himself smiling a little, knowing he’s going to be questioned, later. Focusing on the current moment though, Buck reveals his answer, _with his son, at home_ , and smiles when Eddie nods, though he’s biting his lip.

“But also with him. I’m also very comfortable with you,” Eddie laughs and Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement before turning towards Hen and Karen, and hearing their answers which, not surprisingly enough, is very similar to Buck and Eddie’s and Buck can’t stop himself from turning towards Eddie with a small grin because if _anything_ could come from tonight, it’s the fact that he’s learned very well how much he and Eddie resemble a married couple.

When Danny runs back to the center of the stage, Buck can’t help but grin because he quickly realizes that he and Eddie have _won_ and ha!, he thinks, his grin turning into a smirk.

“I know I said the last round was the _last_ round but well, as the host, I decided to do _another_ round. Couples can only earn five points per question, so make sure your answers are correct. Instead of writing it down though, when I get to you, just say the answer,” Danny states, a small smirk on his face as he turns towards Hen and Karen.

“Alright, this first question is what does your partner do without realizing it when they’re concentrating?” 

“She tilts her head,” Karen responds while Hen nods.

“And Karen bites her lower lip,” Hen says and when Karen nods, five points are added to their scoreboard before Danny goes to him and Eddie.

“Alright, Buck, what does Eddie do when he’s concentrating?” Danny asks and Buck can’t help but laugh a little.

“He grunts,” Buck whispers conspiratorially while the crowd laughs and Eddie himself lets out a snort.

“Alright, apparently, I do that,” Eddie chuckles before turning towards Buck, “But he sticks his tongue out,” he adds and Buck turns red when he remembers doing so just a few minutes ago, which has Danny laughing.

When Danny walks over to Maddie and Chimney, Buck turns towards his boyfriend, leaning forward on his arms while stretching out his leg on the stool, a smile on his face.

“My tongue has other uses you know,” he teases, Eddie snorting as he winks briefly.

“Oh trust me, I know,” Eddie responds back, a small smirk on his playing before applauding interrupts them, and the two men notice that both of the other teams have answered, and Buck can’t help but feel slightly bad for not paying attention.

Shaking away his thoughts, he lets himself focus on Danny as he explains the next question - what calms your partner down most, biting his lower lip as he thinks about the answer briefly - Christopher - before wondering what his answer would be, before realizing it would also be Christopher, and isn’t that telling, Buck thinks briefly, smiling at his boyfriend before listening as everyone else gives their answers. 

When Danny gets to them, the moment is quick when they both answer correctly, and then it’s Hen and Karen’s turn, who also answer correctly, everyone moving forward in the points.

“Alright, another question - what makes your partner feel super fancy?” Danny asks and Buck has to frown, not sure what Eddie does that makes him feel super fancy, especially since the two of them have never actually been anywhere together fancy enough that required them to be fancy in general. Hen and Karen get their answers correct, and as Danny makes his way towards them, Buck can’t help but shrug before turning to the skinny man, and shrugging once more.

“I can honestly say I have no idea,” he admits and Buck can hear the chuckles and the disbelief within them, especially when Eddie answers the same, making the score tied between Hen, Karen and them, and the others quickly catching up when Danny goes to them and they answer correctly.

“Alright, another question - are you ready for it? What does your partner like to do most when they have alone time?” Danny asks with a grin, numerous people chuckling. “Ayyy, get your minds out of the gutter, audience,” he teases, the chuckles turning into full blown laughter as he turns towards Bobby and Athena, both of them getting their answers correct (both liking to cook, hilarious enough). When Danny turns towards Maddie and Chimney, Buck fully expects _one_ of them to get the answer wrong and thus, not receive the points, but they get it right - Maddie likes to read and Chimney likes to knit, which _what_?

Blinking in surprise, Buck turns towards Buck, bouncing on his feet before frowning when Eddie says that Buck likes to _sleep_ , when that is --

“Not right!” Buck exclaims, eyes widening when Eddie opens and closes his mouth before frowning a little, crossing his arms and playfully pouting.

“Oh and you know what I like to do when I’m alone?” Eddie chuckles, Buck straightening up, a teasing smirk on his face.

“You like to eat a sugary bowl of cereal that you would never let your kid see,” Buck responds, watching as Eddie’s mouth drops open before he lets out a small chuckle.

“Well, it’s a shame you _both_ didn’t get that correct, leaving your total score at 124. Moving onto Hen and Karen--” Danny says, trailing away, but Buck doesn’t focus on him, still smirking at Eddie as Eddie arches his eyebrow in response, stepping forward and crossing his arms. Briefly, Buck recognizes the fact that Hen and Karen get their answers incorrect also before looking away from Eddie when he licks his lips.

“Alright, the last question of the night - what sensations are most pleasurable to your partner?” Danny asks and Buck lets out a loud snort, grinning towards Eddie, arching his eyebrow in question, heart beating faster and faster when Eddie nods slightly. Unable to stop himself from grinning, Buck turns towards Hen and Karen, listening as they state the most pleasurable sensations for one another, Buck unable to stop himself wrinkling his nose as they earn five points. He finds himself frowning though when Danny skips Eddie and him, his arms going out as Danny chuckles.

“I’m getting to you gentlemen last,” he says with a wink, Eddie shaking his head with a laugh before Buck and him listen as the other four in their group answer. When Danny finally arrives at their podium, Buck lets out a breath, grinning when Danny turns to Eddie, opening his mouth before Eddie cuts him off.

“Buck _really_ enjoys it when I kiss his neck softly, especially if I have a beard growing. He also really enjoys it when I lightly run my index and middle fingers on his abs,” Eddie adds after a moment, taking a second to do just that as Buck sucks back a breath, watching his boyfriend carefully.

“Buck, what sensations does Eddie enjoy?” Danny chuckles and Buck grins, despite the fact that he can feel his cheeks turning red, head ducking briefly as his hand comes up to run through his hair.

“He likes it when I wrap my arms around his waist, and when I kiss his cheek,” Buck responds, voice soft as Eddie hums and Danny grins.

“You two totally aren’t just best friends, are you?” Danny chuckles, the rest of the room laughing themselves, Eddie and Buck included, both men grinning.

“We’ve been dating for seven months,” Buck admits, looking at the rest of his team and trying not to giggle when he sees the look of shock on their faces. He tries to avoid the look Maddie is giving him, instead grinning towards Eddie, who nudges him.

“Well, that makes a lot of sense, then,” Danny laughs, turning towards the audience, “And we have a tie - Hen and Karen and Buck and Eddie with 229 points. Maddie and Chimney and Bobby and Athena with 227 points. Congratulations, everyone. Come back next time for _and the winner is_ ,” Danny says and Buck feels himself relaxing when the lights go off. He’s not surprised when he feels Eddie’s arms wrap around his waist, and he relaxes even more in his boyfriend’s hold, closing his eyes and basking in the comfort radiating from Eddie as he nuzzles the spot between his neck and shoulder. Placing his hands on top of Eddie’s, Buck takes a few deep breaths before he opens his eyes, smiling softly at his sister.

“I’m sorry I never told you sooner,” Buck whispers and he tries not to feel hurt at the way Maddie laughs, shaking her head before she’s stepping in front of him, placing her hand on his cheek.

“No,” she whispers fiercely, and Buck has to blink, confused and surprised as he looks at Maddie, not sure what she’s saying no for.

“I’m not laughing at you. I’m not upset you didn’t tell me. I’m more upset that I didn’t realize how _happy_ you are, Ev,” Maddie says and Buck grins at her, shrugging his shoulders.

“We should probably get going, especially since it’s shortly before three and I’m pretty sure they need everyone cleared out, but we’re going to Bobby and Athena’s -- you’re coming right?” Chimney asks while he walks up to the group, arm wrapping around Maddie’s shoulders before he looks towards Buck with a grin.

“I can’t believe that you not only beat us, but you were in a relationship the entire time, Buckaroo,” he laughs and Buck lets out another chuckle, cheeks turning red as Eddie squeezes him from behind, almost like he’s reading Buck’s mind, which wouldn’t surprise him, admittedly.

“We’ll definitely meet you there,” Eddie responds after a few minutes, kissing Buck’s neck before stepping away and Chimney grins, nodding enthusiastically before the two of them walk away and out the door, Buck and Eddie watching them before they follow along.

* * *

“So why did you need to stop off at home first?” Buck asks while he follows Eddie through his home, smiling softly at all of the photos that have gathered throughout - of himself and Christopher, or Chris and Eddie, or all three of them, until they get to Eddie’s bedroom, where there’s a fair amount of Eddie and Buck.

“Because I just wanted to do this,” Eddie responds before surging forward, hands wrapping around Buck’s hips, pulling him in and kissing him, which Buck responds to immediately, his own hands wandering Eddie’s body, a moan slipping free from him as Eddie moves them to his bed, bodies falling on top if it. Buck moves backwards, grinning when Eddie follows on his hands and knees, throwing his head back when Eddie begins kissing up his abs, pushing his shirt up as he goes. Buck can feel himself growing stiffer in his jeans, almost painfully so as Eddie’s own covered cock brushes against his own, the fabric of his jeans causing friction.

“What do you want, babe?” Eddie asks and Buck lets out another moan, eyes fluttering shut as Eddie begins to suck and bite a hickey into his neck, his hands carefully roaming down to Buck’s pants, the man thrusting upwards, feeling Eddie smirk against his neck as he does so before he pulls away with a tsk.

“What do you want, Buck?” Eddie asks once more and Buck can’t help himself as the frustrated moan breaks free before he surges forward, managing to move the two of them so that he’s on top of Eddie, kissing down his boyfriend’s chest with a ferocity one only sees when he has a fire to go put out.

He can feel Eddie’s arms wrap around his neck when he moves upwards, his hands unbuckling Eddie’s pants before their mouths meet and they end up making out, fingers fumbling with one another as their pants come down, hands wrapping around each other’s cocks, causing both men to let out moans as they begin thrusting into one another. Their movements are fast and frenzied, both caught in one another’s webs, not even aware that their whispering confirmations of love to one another until they both cum at the same time, a groan breaking free from Eddie as he slows his kiss down, fingers running through Buck’s sweaty hair, causing the younger man to chuckle and relax his upper body, moving it so that he’s cuddling Eddie instead of on top of him.

“We’re going to have to leave soon,” Eddie whispers, eyes closing while Buck snorts, kissing him lightly before rubbing his hand up and down Eddie’s stomach.

“We’ll have to shower first if we want to leave soon,” Buck admits, sitting up because he knows Eddie will truly fall asleep if he doesn’t, and by the dissatisfied groan Eddie makes, his boyfriend knows it too, especially when Eddie makes grabby hands.

“Come on, let’s hop into the shower and quickly get cleaned so we can make it over to Bobby and Athena’s,” Buck chuckles, grabbing Eddie’s hand and pulling him up while Eddie groans once more before he follows.

“We’re going to get teased enough as it is for being late,” Eddie mutters, Buck snorting softly while he turns on the shower and closes the curtain.

“Yeah, but we’ll deal with that when we get there. Alongside all of the questions we are no doubt going to get asked,” Buck responds with a chuckle, pushing his pants and boxers down quickly before stepping into the shower and letting his muscles relax when the hot water cascades down his body, grinning when Eddie makes his way into the shower himself.

Their shower is quick, both men going through the motions to clean themselves up, though they kiss one another a few times, getting lost in the feeling of one another before they each decide to pull away, grinning like mad.

By the time their shower is done, both Buck and Eddie are rushing through the motions, grabbing clothes to change into, a water bottle for each of them for the ride to Bobby and Athena’s, and their phones, since Buck knows Eddie will want to find out how Christopher was while they make their way home, and Buck has no problems doing that, a small grin on his face when they finally manage to get to their car.

“Ready to go?” Eddie asks and Buck nods, a small frown on his face before he shakes his thoughts away and smiles at Eddie.

“Are you ready to be questioned?” Buck asks, something in him clearly insecure which causes Eddie to look up and smile at him from the opposite end of the car.

“Always,” Eddie responds and Buck’s heart beats fast in his chest as he grins, opening the car door and getting in, allowing Eddie to drive once more, since his leg is still bothering him.

The ride to Bobby and Athena’s is quiet, both men lost in their thoughts, though they’re holding hands over the center console. They both have numerous thoughts running through their minds, though Buck can’t stop himself from smiling over to Eddie a few minutes, letting himself let out a breath when they finally arrive at the home of Bobby and Athena.

“Do we knock and enter or knock and wait?” Buck asks with a tilt of his head, frowning a little when Eddie snorts and places his hand on his back, guiding him to the door before he knocks and enters, answering Buck’s questions for him, which has Buck laughing a little.

“Oh good, you guys have finally made it. We were just about to eat, so come on in, sit down, an’ grab a plate,” Athena says when she spots them, a small smirk on her face that has Buck groaning but following through with her soft order.

* * *

It’s a good while later that their meal is finished, Buck stretching his entire body as he the feeling of fullness makes itself known. His eyes close as he tilts his head back, smiling when he feels Eddie’s fingers running through his hair, eyes opening as he smiles at his boyfriend.

He knows immediately, as the room becomes quiet, that everyone has begun to look at the two of them, planning to ask their questions and Buck lets out a small sigh before he straightens his body and looks around at everyone else.

“Can we get comfortable on the couches before we’re questioned?” Buck asks with a small laugh while the rest of the room laughs also, nodding their heads and Buck lets out a small relieved breath. Making his way towards the couches, Buck almost feels like he’s going to have a panic attack, something that Eddie must see because he can feel his boyfriend’s hand slipping into his own and squeezing, which Buck is so damn thankful for.

When he finally makes his way to the couch, he sits on one end, grinning over to Eddie who sits next to him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder, which has Buck leaning into his boyfriend and snuggling him, like they’re at home, watching a movie. The only thing missing is Christopher, he thinks, a small smile on his face. Next to Eddie and him, Hen and Karen sit down on the extra cushions, smiling over at them while Maddie and Chimney sit in the love chair and Bobby and Athena sit on the second couch, after placing down desserts and other small treats.

“Alright, so who wants to ask the first question?” Buck asks after a minute or so of silence, taking a sip of the water that was placed in front of him, smiling at Athena.

“That will be me - how did you two end up getting together? When?” Maddie asks and Buck shouldn’t be surprised for one minute that Maddie has a lot of questions and wants to get into the thick of things.

“I had been having a lot of therapy sessions with Frank, after my street fighting became an issue--” Eddie begins, his tongue darting out to lick at his lower lip like he’s trying to find his words, everyone watching him carefully, “And he had said something -- I don’t really remember what, anymore, but --” Eddie pauses once more, taking a deep breath as Buck squeezes his hand and snuggles further into him, kissing his shoulder, comforting him the best he can in this moment.

“But by the time I had finished like, seven sessions -- I had realized, partially thanks to Frank, that I was so angry with Buck because I had placed him in the role that Shannon was meant to be in. I had been considering him a _spouse_ , and after I realized that, I realized it was because I wanted Buck to take that place in my life,” Eddie says and Buck shifts a little bit, because even though he’s heard all of this before, it still hurts a little to remember all of the bad moments they had been through between the tsunami, the lawsuit and the street fighting.

“So I took a fair bit of time to think about everything I had realized and learned in my sessions with Frank and then -- went to Buck’s place one night when I knew Abuela had Chris and neither of us had to work the next day.” Eddie says, a soft huff of breath being released. Buck smiles, remembering the night, how he had been so surprised to see Eddie there, and confused, because --

“I had asked him if everything was alright, if Chris was alright, and what he was doing at my place because even though he had forgiven me for the lawsuit, our friendship hadn’t exactly been repaired to the way it had been before,” Buck responds softly, shifting his body a little so that his back is against Eddie’s chest, Eddie’s arm hanging down low in front of him as Eddie kisses the top of his head.

“And I hadn’t known how to answer - not at first, so I just entered his home and started pacing, because how was I supposed to answer his question?” Eddie says, his fingers running through Buck’s hair as Buck tries his best not to fall asleep at the gesture. 

“I kind of knew something was on his mind - hard not to, when he’s my best friend.” Buck chuckles, a small smirk on his face as he looks up at Eddie before looking at everyone else and huffing out a breath.

“It seemed awkward though, because I knew Eddie wanted to say something, and knew there was a lot going on in his mind, but I hadn’t felt secure enough in our friendship to just -- ask,” Buck whispers, shifting once more as insecurities rise throughout him. With Eddie running his fingers through his hair though, he does his best not to let his insecurities take a hold of him and instead, takes another breath and smiles.

“Eventually, I started talking about my sessions with Frank and everything we had discussed, and my feelings and emotions and then I paused for a minute, taking a deep breath before telling Buck that I was in love with him.”

“How did you handle that, Buck?” Maddie chuckles while Buck lets out a small laugh, since he knows Maddie knew about his feelings for his best friend in the first place. He lets out a small breath after laughing, shaking his head briefly before looking up at Eddie, his eyes shining with mirth as Eddie smirks a little in response.

“I’m pretty sure I laughed and asked if he was joking,” Buck responds, shrugging his shoulders while Maddie groans.

“Buck! You had come over so many times between your leg injury before the lawsuit bemoaning your attraction to Eddie and then your _feelings_ for the man, and _that’s_ what you do?” She asks, a look of disbelief on her face while Buck and Eddie both laugh.

“Yeah, when he had burst out laughing, I found myself more confused than hurt, because I know Buck isn’t like that, so I just waited for him to stop laughing and then explained myself some more. And he became more and more serious the longer that I went on, realizing that I was definitely not joking,” Eddie chuckles, looking towards Buck and frowning softly when he can see Buck frowning himself, knowing his boyfriend is thinking too hard about his insecurities at the moment.

“I never thought Eddie would feel the same way I did, admittedly. Especially after I fucked up so much,” Buck says with a snort, and Buck can feel Eddie wrap himself around Buck, and he has to close his eyes briefly, leaning into Eddie and taking a deep breath.

“And I knew we had a lot to talk about, because I had a _lot_ of insecurities,” Buck says, voice softening as Maddie looks at him in understanding, since he always went to her about his insecurities and everything else he felt like he couldn’t go to Eddie with.

“So then I asked, at one point, if maybe he thought we should do couples therapy somewhere, so all of our issues could be worked out in a healthy way that wouldn’t cause any resentment or confusion,” Eddie responds and Buck remembers how fast he agreed with that statement.

“And he had agreed quite readily, I think because he missed me,” Eddie says and Buck snorts a little.

“Oh I definitely missed you. I missed us though,” Buck whispers and Eddie kisses him lightly with a small smile before turning back to everyone.

“So we decided to do a couples therapy thing, which ended up being with Frank, thankfully. But that night, we just continued talking and decided to try going out on dates, see if it was worth it,” Eddie finishes, shrugging his shoulders while the room remains quiet, thinking about the small story that Buck and Eddie had shared.

“So, that was how long ago?” Chimney asks, tilting his head as Buck lets out a small snort before giggling, taking another sip from his water.

“Seven months ago. We dated for like, a month and a half, two months before realizing that we were all in on one another, and then we _seriously_ started dating,” Buck grins, pouting when Eddie snorts.

“At which he means, we started having sex,” Eddie responds, Buck turning red as he hides his face and Chimney groans, everyone else laughing at the response. “But no, yeah, we decided, that night that we were completely in love with one another and to truly commit to a serious relationship. So we told Christopher about us, and Buck was spending more and more time at our place and --”

“ _Our_ place?” Bobby interrupts, his eyebrow arching upwards as Eddie blinks in confusion before chuckling, looking towards Buck briefly, who only shrugs in response, laughing himself.

“I spend so much time with Eddie and Christopher in Eddie’s home, I guess we both just consider it my home,” Buck responds with a soft smile.

“Though, I suppose it is time you move in completely,” Eddie responds lightly, Buck grinning and Eddie smiling, leaning forward to kiss him before resting his forehead against Buck’s and just breathing him in before leaning away and looking at the others.

“So we told Christopher about us,” Buck continues on, laughing once more before continuing, “And we started going out more instead of just staying inside for our dates, and while we still go to therapy together, we don’t go as much anymore,” Buck finishes, flashing Eddie a grin when Buck feels him shifting around a little.

“So, what --” Maddie begins before pausing, biting her lower lip in thought like she doesn’t know how to say what she wants to say.

“Can we ask you guys about some of your answers to the game show? Of course, everyone can ask others, if they want to, but I’m just really curious about some of your answers, Buck,” Maddie says softly and Buck can’t help but relax, not realizing he had gone tense in the few moments it had taken her to answer.

“Mads, of course you can, you know you always can,” Buck says, getting up quickly and going over to her, hugging her. As she hugs him back, he feels something in him relax even more, not having spent a lot of time with Maddie lately because of work on both of their ends, but also because of their day to day activities. When Buck manages to pull away, he’s a little surprised to find Maddie crying, and with a small snort of laughter, he wipes away her tears.

“Oh Mads, why are you crying? There’s nothing to cry about?” He chuckles, shaking his head as Maddie lets out a laugh and he grins.

“I just - the game made me realize how much I missed out on with you. And that we haven’t done any Buckley nights in a while,” She admits and Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement before wrapping his arms around his sister once more, his hold on her tightening slightly when she sniffles into his shoulder before they pull away, smiling at one another, and Buck goes to sit back next to Eddie, grinning when Eddie kisses his cheek.

“Alright, which questions would you like to know more about the answers to?” Buck asks, taking another sip from his water while watching everyone and getting comfortable in Eddie's arms.

“Okay, but seriously, _teacher_?” Chimney asks and Buck lets out a loud roar of laughter, nearly spraying his sip of water in front of him at how it relaxes the room.

“I love kids. I love helping people, and seeing the results of helping people. What’s so hard to understand about that?” Buck asks, a smile on his face as Chimney blinks, tilting his head and biting his lip.

“I guess I just always expected you liking helping people to be more of a heroic helping people?” Chimney states, ending off in a question that has Buck thinking.

“I mean - helping people as a firefighter is definitely -- I love it. It’s my life. But if I hadn’t fallen into it, I would like to think I would have been a teacher _eventually_ ,” Buck says, shrugging his shoulders at the end of his statement, watching as Chimney nods before turning to Maddie when he sees her moving out of the corner of his eye.

“And all of those languages? I knew, obviously, about Polish. But Italian?” She asks and Buck smiles.

“Well, Spanish was learned when I was in South America. And Italian -- after I came back from South America, I stayed with an older Italian couple who spoke very little English but were very welcoming.Without them, I would’ve been homeless, Mads,” Buck admits and he can see Maddie’s eyes widen in surprise.

“What happened to them?” She asks, voice soft and she must know that it isn’t good because she moves forward and squeezes his arm, sitting in front of him like a child, which only has Buck laughing a little.

“The husband died of cancer and then about six months before my probation was over, the wife developed Alzheimer's. She’s in a care facility, and I sometimes visit her, but she never really remembers me,” Buck admits, a sad smile on his face as Maddie _and_ Eddie hug him.

“I’ll have to meet her sometime,” Maddie whispers and Buck nods, knowing it’s about time Maddie meets the woman who helped him when he was still Buck point five.

“When you have a bad shift you go to Christopher?” It’s Bobby who asks this question and Buck turns towards him, nodding his head.

“I have loved that kid since I learned about him,” Buck chuckles, resting against Eddie as he feels the vibrations from Eddie’s responding hum, not sure what else he can say. “He’s sunshine, Christopher. And to spend even a second of time with him, when I’ve had a bad day -- it helps me remember the good,” Buck says, voice soft, trying not to begin crying.

“He always reminds me to remember the good,” he finishes, biting his lower lip as his mind flashes through his memories of the tsunami. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he looks around, a brief look of confusion flashing on his face when he sees Athena and Bobby look at one another knowingly.

“What?” He can’t help but ask, arching his eyebrow when Bobby chuckles.

“How long have you thought of Christopher as your son?” He asks and Buck can feel his cheeks turning red as he sputters, stutters and looks away, fingers running through his hair as he looks at Eddie to help him, not surprised to see his boyfriend laughing. Huffing out a breath, Buck shakes his head, turning back towards Bobby and letting out a small chuckle.

“Probably during my recovery time, after my leg surgeries,” Buck admits, smiling softly, “I spent so much time with Eddie and Chris that by the time I was coming back to the department, I considered them, well, _mine_ ,” Buck admits, chuckling, feeling insecure in his thoughts even though Eddie squeezes him around his middle.

“Well, we considered you _ours_ by then also, so no worries,” Eddie chuckles and Buck grins at him.

“I’m surprised you guys didn’t know more about one another,” Buck says towards Chimney and Maddie, watching as they shrug, looking abashedly at one another, though Maddie does so by tilting her head back.

“Yeah, we have more to learn about one another, obviously, but that’s okay,” Chimney responds and Buck can’t stop the smile from forming on his face over that answer, dancing in his seat as everyone laughs, a few people grabbing some desserts while Karen turns towards Buck with a small frown.

“Does the events of the tsunami still affect your everyday decision making?” She asks, voice quiet, but everyone hears it and becomes serious at the question, having wondered that themselves. Buck pauses mid bite, quickly swallowing his dessert before placing the other half on the table with a small frown, biting his lower lip and picking at a loose thread in his jeans, trying to find out a way to express his thoughts without getting lost in them.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed since when Karen had asked him the question, he looks up at her and lets out a small sigh, rubbing his hands together after a few minutes, leaning into Eddie’s hand, not having realized he was rubbing his back while he was lost in his thoughts.

“Very much so,” Buck whispers, letting out a small breath, shuffling his body so that his knees are under his chin and his arms are wrapped around them, almost like he’s trying to protect himself from whatever it is his mind believes he needs protecting from. 

“After the tsunami -- I just felt like I had failed Eddie so badly because I had lost Christopher during it. And I felt like I could never come back from that, even though he kept trying to convince me otherwise,” Buck snorted softly, shaking his head and letting out a small chuckle at that thought.

“And then the lawsuit happened,” Athena says, full of understanding when Buck nods, taking another breath because he knows this is probably the most important part of this conversation, just like it had been when he had it with Eddie.

“If anything, the lawsuit made me feel like -- like I wasn’t wanted around. At least, that’s why I did it. Did Bobby ever actually tell you why I was going through with the lawsuit?” Buck questions, looking around at Hen and Chimney, even though he knows his Captain didn’t, and by the cringe that crosses Bobby’s face, he knows it too.

When Hen and Chimney shake their head no, Buck finds himself nodding, smiling slightly, “Well, let’s just say it was because it was Bobby’s choice to not let me come back, despite the fact that the higher ups said I could. And that _hurt_ , a hell of a lot more than it should have,” Buck responds, ignoring the way Hen and Chimney both blink in surprise, mouths dropping open while they look at Bobby before they come forward and wrap their arms around Buck, making Buck laugh a little.

“Okay, alright, enough. I’m fine and Bobby and I have talked about it, and everything is fine, so c’mon now, ask me more questions about my answers if you want to,” Buck says, pushing the other two away playfully while they laugh.

“You don’t have to answer this Buck, but is that why you don’t regret the lawsuit?” Chimney asks and Buck looks over to him with a small sigh, biting his lower lip before shrugging.

“Yes and No. I was never going to regret doing the lawsuit because I knew I had a case. And even though my lawyer was pretty sleazy, he knew I had an actual case too. Hell, the fire department themselves knew I had a case, which is why they ended up losing,” Buck responds, huffing out a small breath and shrugging his shoulders. “But I do regret how it ended up pushing you guys away, and that I didn’t communicate better,” Buck admits after a few minutes and the room nods, the silence almost deafening before --

“Not a question, but I have to admit, knowing that you guys knew each other’s underwear size was definitely interesting,” Bobby chuckles and Buck himself lets out another laugh, looking towards Eddie and nudging him before looking back towards the team.

“I mean, really, that could have just been because we change in front of one another while at work,” Eddie says with a grin, running his fingers through his hair before moving to run his fingers through Buck’s hair, which has the man preening at his boyfriend.

“When was Christopher sick last?” Chimney asks, tilting his head in thought and Buck lets out a small laugh, shaking his head

“Last weekend. I’m pretty sure I would’ve bought something else since then, but Eddie’s been buying me everything this week,” Buck admits with a grin while the rest of the room hums in response before Bobby blinks.

“That was the one day you two had separate shifts last week, right?” Bobby asks and Buck nods, taking a sip of his water before remembering the dessert from earlier and putting that in his mouth.

“Yeah. I had spent the night at Eddie’s, and pretty much just stayed with Chris when we realized he was sick, but had gone out before Eddie had to leave for his shift to pick up some medicine,” Buck replies, remembering how he had held Christopher in his arms as Chris sniffled, his stomach hurting. It was truly the first ‘test’ of him as a parent, and even though most would have felt differently - Buck felt like he had proven he could be a parent to Christopher.

“You do know you would never be _alone_ , right Buck?” Maddie asks after a few minutes of the room just eating and drinking and Buck looks up at his sister with a small frown before he opens and closes his mouth, at first because he doesn’t know what she means and then because he realizes she’s talking about his fear and he lets out an exhale of breath before shrugging his shoulders.

“Buck--” Maddie begins but Buck shakes his head, tapping incessantly on his knee as he tries to word what he wants to say correctly.

“It might never have happened with the lawsuit, but I could definitely see it happening - where I do something wrong, and I’m alienated by the entire group. And I pull myself away from _you_ , because you’re with Chimney, and I don’t want to make you feel like you’re in the middle,” Buck says, biting his lip as everyone watches him, taking his words in.

“And it’s something we talked about, when we first got together, because -- well, because Buck felt like if he messed up with me, every single one of you would take my side, even if there were no sides to be had,” Eddie says, wrapping his arms around Buck and kissing the top of his head as Buck takes a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and looking at everyone.

“It’s one of my fears, and I know it’s something I need to work on,” Buck admits softly, shrugging his shoulders before letting out another exhale of breath.

“Buck, I need you to make me a promise, okay?” Maddie asks, leaning forward a little so she’s got her arms on his knees, arching an eyebrow at him as he nods, curious.

“I need you to promise to never keep something from me because you don’t want me to be in the middle. You’re my _brother_ , Buck, and I made you a promise a hell of a long time ago to always be there for you. I might’ve broken it with Doug, but I do not plan on breaking it again, alright? So please, promise to tell me when something’s going on,” Maddie pleads and Buck hates it, hates how she knows him so well, hates how he’s hurting her even with his good intentions but that hatred for himself doesn’t stop him from nodding his head, leaning forward to hug Maddie, arms tightening around her the longer the hug goes on. Eventually though, they both pull away, smiling at one another, Maddie scooting back so she’s in front of Chimney, leaning against his legs.

“I think this is going to be my last question but when were you guys going to tell us?” Chimney asks and Buck looks at him before looking at Eddie with a small smirk before letting out a small laugh, which has Chimney arching an eyebrow at the two of them.

“Honestly, we weren’t going to say anything until we knew the time frame on the bet had ended for everyone in the house,” Eddie responds with his own little laugh, Chimney’s mouth dropping open in surprise as Athena lets out a loud snort, shaking her head.

“Were we that obvious?” Hen asks, laughing in disbelief while Buck snorts and Eddie shakes his head.

“Oh, you were very obvious,” Buck snorts, shaking his head as Eddie hums and Buck looks around the room before sighing softly.

“To be honest, it was my choice to not say anything until the time frame of the bet was over because it hurt to think that you guys believed I was clueless enough about my feelings that you needed to make a bet on when I would either realize them, have a gay panic about them or get my head out of my ass in general and screw things up with Eddie because of them,” Buck admitted softly, and he can see the guilty look spreading through the entire team at his statement. And even though he knows he never meant for them to feel guilty, a small part of him can’t help but be happy that they’ve realized just how much they’ve hurt him with the words on the bet itself.

“Buckaroo,” Hen begins but Buck shakes his head, smiling softly before he lets out a small sigh.

“I’m not mad at you guys. I realize you wrote those, no doubt jokingly, but it kind of just shows there’s not a lot you guys know about me, and that you just...kind of stuck with your conceptions of Buck 1.0,” Buck admits, picking at a loose thread on his jeans as the others look around at one another, realizing he’s right.

“Okay, here on out - we do better,” Chimney says, nodding his head while Buck smiles, heart beating wildly inside his chest as he notices Hen nod and Bobby smile. Buck moves forward, grabbing another piece of dessert before the entire group begins having a conversation that doesn’t consist of the questions from the game show and watching everyone surrounding him, Buck can’t help but feel content and at home, a small smile gracing his features when he feels Eddie kiss his temple.

* * *

“Alright, we’ll see you guys at work tomorrow, and then again next week for the next dinner,” Bobby says, handing Buck a tray of food as Eddie puts his shoes on and Buck lets out a small yawn. They’re leaving, alongside everyone else - since they need to pick up Christopher and get him to bed. Buck nods his head, jumping on the spot to get some energy flowing through his system until Eddie stands straight and looks at him with a smirk, which only has Buck turning red.

“Shuddap,” he chuckles, shaking his head before moving to give Bobby and Athena a hug goodnight, “Thanks for having us, you two,” he responds, voice soft as they nod before they’re out of the door and into the night, Eddie grabbing hold of his free hand and interlacing their fingers, Buck’s heart beating fast like it usually does when Eddie shows such intimacy with him, still unable to believe how happy they are together.

When they finally arrive back to Eddie’s car, Buck gets in slowly, making sure not to jostle the tray of food as he sets it down onto the floor before turning the radio on low and relaxing in the chair as they head to Eddie’s Abuela’s so they can pick Chris up.

“Today was a good day, all things considered,” Eddie whispers halfway through their drive and Buck turns towards him, a soft smile on his face as he hums in agreement before picking up his phone and shooting off a quick text to Abuela to tell her they’re almost at her home. He’s exhausted, and he knows Eddie is too, but he also knows that the two of them will do everything to follow through their routine with Chris tonight.

“I wasn’t joking, you know,” Eddie says softly and Buck frowns, turning towards him, confused at what appears to be subject change.

“About?”

“You moving in with us,” Eddie says, looking at him and Buck swears his heart gets lodged into his throat as Eddie says those words. He’s pretty sure his mouth had dropped open in shock but almost immediately, Buck can feel himself grinning as he looks over at Eddie, humming softly.

“Your stuff is already pretty much in my house. And I know you consider my home your home,” Eddie says, though there’s a light teasing in his voice that has Buck chuckling.

“I’m not disagreeing with you babe. I would definitely love to officially move in with you and Chris, especially since my apartment isn’t my home,” Buck responds after a few minutes of laughing, shaking his head while he stares at Eddie, a soft smile on his face before blinking at the light that turns on, having him realize they’re at Eddie’s Abuela’s.

“Want me to grab him?” Buck asks, smiling when Eddie shakes his head, already out of the driver’s side door.

“Nah, I’ll be quick,” Eddie says before he’s gone and Buck watches as he hugs his Abuela, before grabbing a sleeping Chris, which has Buck smiling at how cute the sight is before he raises his hand to return a wave that Abuela is giving him.

Realizing quickly that Eddie might have a problem opening the other door, Buck opens it from the inside, carefully making sure it stays open as Eddie makes his way to the car and carefully deposits Chris into his spot. With the little man buckled in, Buck watches as Eddie makes his way to the driver's seat, waving his hand at his Abuela before closing the door and reversing carefully.

“Buck?” Buck hears and he turns around, not surprised to find Christopher slowly waking up, no doubt from the jostling that the car provides.

“It’s alright, kochanie, go back to bed,” Buck whispers, running his fingers through Chris’ hair and smiling when Chris snuffles and nods, falling back to sleep almost immediately. Buck turns back so he’s facing forward, interlacing his fingers with Eddie’s and smiling softly at him.

It’s been a long seven months, and it almost seems like it’s been an even longer day but Buck knows without a doubt that Eddie is always going to be there for him, and he for Eddie - that they will always have each other’s backs, and be each other’s family, and Buck wouldn’t have it any other way, especially after everything they’ve been through.

“I love you,” Buck whispers, still smiling as he turns towards Eddie, though it becomes soft when Eddie turns towards him and raises their hands, kissing Buck’s hand in return, humming softly.

“I love you too,” Eddie responds, and Buck continues smiling at him, before he turns to look straight ahead, closing his eyes so he can just enjoy the ride home. A short little while later, he feels the car pull to a stop and blinks his eyes open, yawning briefly before he unbuckles his seat-belt and gets out of the car, waving Eddie off as he opens the door on his side and slowly unbuckles Christopher, careful as he carries the kid outside of the car, shifting when he’s fully out as Chris’ arms automatically wrap around his neck.

“Alright buddy, let’s get you ready for bed,” Buck whispers, shifting Chris once more as he makes his way around the car and into the home, smiling softly when he enters the home and thinks about how he’ll actually be able to call it is home soon enough.

With the help of Eddie, the two of them get Chris set for bed, smiling at one another for a few brief moments before they pull up his blankets and leave, turning off his light, watching him carefully for a few minutes before making their way out of the room and into their own. Buck flops down immediately, a small moan escaping from him as he stretches his body, hearing his back crack a few times as Eddie flops down next to him, arms wrapping around him as he lets out a soft sigh.

“Today was a good day,” Eddie whispers, kissing Buck’s cheek, Buck smiling as he turns and snuggles into his boyfriend.

“It’s always a good day with you, Eds,” Buck whispers back, smiling through the words as Eddie shifts a little.

“Yeah, that’s true for me with you, you know,” Eddie replies and Buck hums, slowly beginning to fall asleep, barely feeling Eddie kiss the top of his head as he succumbs to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo, I hope you guys enjoyed this story. As always, constructive criticism and comments are definitely appreciated. If you want to see a breakdown of the rounds, how many points they were, what questions were asked, and who earned what points and how many, you can do so by clicking this [here](https://smartbuckleystrand.tumblr.com/atwi). Also, first person to who I based Danny off, I'm going to message you on tumblr and write a prompt for you.
> 
> kochanie = darling/sweetheart in polish, and it's pronounced ko-han-ay.


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